1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to a 3-dimensional (3D) graphics rendering method, medium and system, and more particularly, to a 3D graphics rendering method, medium and system that apply a motion blur effect to an object.
2. Description of the Related Art
The term “motion blur effect” generally refers to when any object is moved and due to the movement of the object, or movement of a camera relative to the object, the object appears blurred. In general, 3-dimensional (3D) graphics animations continuously output images of 25 to 30 frames per second, and thus there is no motion blur effect. However, if any object moves substantially, the object may appear blurred. This is perceived as natural because of the way humans perceive motion. Consequently, 3D graphics animations, to which a motion blur effect does not apply, may appear unnatural to the human eye. Therefore, a motion blur effect is a graphics effect which may make 3D graphics animations appear more realistic and natural to the human eye.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional 3D graphics rendering apparatus, which provides a motion blur effect.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional 3D graphics rendering apparatus includes a rendering unit 11, a first accumulation buffer 12, a second accumulation buffer 13, an average calculation unit 14, a back buffer 15, and a front buffer 16. In FIG. 1, only two accumulation buffers are illustrated. However, in order to show an excellent motion blur effect, more than two accumulation buffers are needed.
The rendering unit 11 renders 3D graphics data in the back buffer 15 and motions illustrated by the 3D graphics data are rendered in the accumulation buffers 12 and 13, respectively. The average calculation unit 14 calculates an average of the images that are rendered in each of the accumulation buffers 12 and 13. Then, the result is stored in the back buffer 15. When any complete image is stored in the back buffer 15, an image stored in the front buffer 16 is replaced with the image stored in the back buffer 15. The image stored in the front buffer 16 is outputted to a display device (not illustrated).
FIG. 2 is an example of an image to which a motion blur effect has been applied. If many accumulation buffers are used, a significantly soft motion blur effect can be illustrated as in FIG. 2.
As described above, in order for a conventional 3D graphics rendering apparatus to provide a motion blur effect, motions illustrated from 3D graphics should be rendered in each of the accumulation buffers 12 and 13, respectively and thus a large amount of calculation is required, and in particular, large memory resources that are used to maintain the accumulation buffers 12 and 13 are required. Therefore, it is difficult for mobile devices, in which hardware resources such as memory resources and calculating ability are limited, to provide a motion blur effect.